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Research conducted by the New Policy Institute for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation explores Council Tax Support schemes. There were no obvious patterns by political control, demography or location. This briefings will be of interest to members and officers with an interest in welfare reform, poverty reduction, and finance.

This is the latest in a series of briefings on local Council Tax Support (CTS) schemes. It focuses mostly on a short report produced by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on March 11. The PAC took evidence from the DCLG, but also built on evidence in a report published in…

The introduction of the new council tax support scheme (replacing council tax benefit) in April 2013 is a hugely significant reform. The new scheme has been brought in at the same time as a ten per cent cut in the funding available for support for council tax. This briefing summarises…

The Local Government Finance Act 2012 brings in arrangements for localised council tax support schemes to replace council tax benefit from April 2013. It also provides local authorities flexibility on the council tax that can be charged on empty homes and provides them with the freedom to publish council tax…

The question session will take place on Monday 12 November at 2:30pm. There will be four questions about how the revenue from the forthcoming auction of the 4G mobile telephone spectrum will be used to fund an affordable homes building programme. There will also questions on the transitional council tax…

The Department for Communities and Local Government parliamentary questions session came on the same day as two announcements were made; a rise to £75k in the maximum amount of discount that a tenant can claim when exercising the Right to Buy and a related announcement on the New Buy Scheme,…

The LGiU and MJ council finances survey gives mixed reviews of how localist the government’s policies are and what the practical impact will be. A clear majority believe the government’s finance bill is decentralising, but around half are concerned that they will lose out in changes to business rates. There is a…

Research conducted by the LGiU is the headline story of this week’s MJ. You can read a summary of the story for free here, and the full version here (£). We will be posting our own analysis tomorrow, complete with some really good visualisations of the data – a preview…

A press release from DCLG yesterday announced that over 200 councils have signalled intentions to freeze council tax over 2012/13. Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said “Freezing council tax is a concrete way councils can support residents in tough times, by keeping bills down for…